'Cheap' rice not cheap for poor in Kulonprogo<\/p>\n
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Kulonprogo, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Almost every day is a survival attempt for Trisno Wahyudi, 63,
\nand his family.<\/p>\n
They live in a five meter by seven meter bamboo house, or a
\nhut to be precise, with a dirt floor, in Gorolanggu hamlet,
\nSidoharjo village, Samigaluh district, Kulonprogo regency,
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Furniture is almost completely absent from their home. In the
\nkitchen, they have five pieces of cassava and less than three
\nkilograms of rice and are expecting uncertain times ahead.<\/p>\n
Trisno said that rice was simply too expensive. \"Cheap\" rice
\nis sold at Rp 1,000 (90 US cents) per kilogram.<\/p>\n
Although he has been taking on any odd job he can in order to
\nsurvive, he can earn only Rp 10,000 per month, not enough to buy
\na month's rice.<\/p>\n
\"The rice was from our neighbors who could afford cheap rice.
\nAs for us, we don't have enough money to buy it,\" Trisno told The
\nJakarta Post on a recent visit to the village.<\/p>\n
He lives with his daughter-in-law and her three children --
\nthe eldest is in the second year of elementary school, the second
\nat kindergarten and the youngest is still less than two months
\nold.<\/p>\n
Trisno's son committed suicide, apparently because he could
\nnot endure the economic hardship.<\/p>\n
As they could not afford to buy rice continuously, they
\nharvest the crops and vegetables that grow in the small yard of
\ntheir home as their staple food.<\/p>\n
\"If there is cassava in our yard, we eat cassava. If there is
\ncorn, we eat corn. We eat whatever we can. What else can we do?
\nWe do not have any money to buy rice,\" Trisno said in Javanese.<\/p>\n
He and his daughter-in-law said they would be quite content
\nwith daily life as long as they could provide rice once a day for
\nthe children, who would eat it with salt, and vegetables from
\ntheir yard.<\/p>\n
They do not have money to buy seasoning or spices with which
\nto cook. They would consider themselves lucky if they could buy
\ntempeh for the whole family once a week or two.<\/p>\n
Trisno and his family are one of many poor families in
\nKulonprogo, a regency in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
They are not lazy people. They usually work in the fields, but
\nthey are currently jobless because during the dry season, as now,
\nthe area is dry and cannot be planted.<\/p>\n
Drought is regular during the dry season, but during the rainy
\nseason, people have to prepare themselves for floods and
\nlandslides.<\/p>\n
The area is prone to the disasters, particularly adjacent to
\nthe Menoreh mountains located in the northern part of Kulonprogo,
\nbordering with Magelang in the east and with Purworejo in the
\nwest.<\/p>\n
Chief of Gorolanggu hamlet, Dedi Diatmoko, 30, said that many
\nof the 54 families in the area were categorized as poor. As they
\ndid not have regular incomes, they started to sell trees in their
\nfields to buy food. They would sell any kind of tree, including
\nthose that were still very young, at a low price.<\/p>\n
\"Yesterday, Pak Rejo sold eight teak trees and nine coconut
\ntrees for Rp 1 million. They were the only trees he had,\" Dedi
\nsaid, referring to one of his villagers.<\/p>\n
What happens in the neighborhood hamlet, Tetes, is just the
\nsame. A total 25 of 47 families in the hamlet are very poor. They
\ncan hardly afford to eat rice with vegetables twice a day.<\/p>\n
Each of the residents has only two changes of clothes,
\naccording to statistics.<\/p>\n
\"That is the official data from the government. Based on my
\nobservation as chief of this hamlet, there are more people who
\nare poor. Almost all have nothing to eat,\" Maryadi, chief of
\nTetes hamlet, said.<\/p>\n
Kulonprogo regency has a population of 179,102 people, or
\nabout 51,000 families. The government's data shows that 36,082
\nfamilies are \"very poor\" while the rest are \"poor.\" They live in
\ndozens of villages in the regency, especially in the northern
\npart, close to the Menoreh mountains.<\/p>\n
Dwi Wicaksono, head of the information and documentation
\nservice section at the regency, acknowledged the poverty that
\nstruck the area, characterized by people who could hardly afford
\nto eat twice a day and lived in houses with dirt floors.<\/p>\n
The problem is, he said, they worked as farmers, and when
\ndrought hit this area, the farmers suddenly lost their jobs.<\/p>\n
\"It is very unlikely that they could find another job during
\nthis time,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta councillors tried last month to help the people by
\ndonating some staple food, although in small quantities. Deputy
\nspeaker of the council Boedi Dewantoro said that they provided
\nthe people with 180 packages of food -- each worth Rp 10,000, and
\n20 tanks of water.<\/p>\n
However, it is not clear as to how to free these people from
\nthe vicious cycle of poverty since they cannot rely forever on
\nthe government or wealthy people sympathizing with their plight.<\/p>\n
As the rainy season is approaching, the Yogyakarta secretariat
\nfor disaster and refugee control has made some relief efforts to
\nanticipate flooding and landslides.<\/p>\n
Suwarno, an officer at the secretariat, said that they had
\nbuilt 144 prefabricated home? to accommodate landslide victims.
\nConstruction of the houses cost Rp 1.5 billion.<\/p>\n
They have also allocated 50 tons of rice, which have been
\ndisbursed to all regencies in the province. Each regency received
\ntwo tons of rice. He added that a coordinating unit had Rp 250
\nmillion available in cash, which could be used if disaster
\nstruck.<\/p>",
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